Geography of the United States

A driver slowly navigates through icy road conditions on the US 75 highway and LBJ 635 interchange Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2023, in Dallas.Photo: Tony Gutierrez (AP)An Arctic front has frozen much of Central Texas, and it’ll probably linger there for another day. Parts of central, north, and west Texas are under ice storm warnings,according to the National Weather Service Prediction Center. Parts of nearby Tennessee, Arkansas, and Mississippi are under ice storm warnings, too.A vehicle rests on a barricade after the driver…

The Southwest’s water crisis has reached a new, desperate benchmark. For the first time, more than 500 households in Maricopa County, Arizona have had their water cut-off. Since January 1, residents of the Scottsdale, Arizona suburb, Rio Verde Foothills, have been without any reliable water supply. The secluded, unincorporated community—built like a boom town in the middle of the desert— was constructed without its own municipal water source. The oversight was made possible via a plot size loophole that flouts Arizona’s…

More than 500 households in the rural Arizona desert are set to be without running water starting January, 1 2023, as first reported by NBC News. The homes, located in Rio Verde Foothills—an affluent, unincorporated community in the state’s Maricopa County, were built without complying to Arizona’s usual 100-year water supply requirement. Rio Verde Foothills doesn’t have its own water system. Instead, people living in the arid locale rely on private wells or water trucked up fromthe nearby city of Scottsdale.However, in…

The Diamond Lady, a once-majestic riverboat, rests with smaller boats in mud at Riverside Park Marina in Martin Luther King Jr. Riverside Park along the Mississippi River on October 19, 2022 in Memphis, Tennessee. Photo: Scott Olson (Getty Images)The Mississippi River is still in drought, with no end in sight. The historically low water levels in the busy waterway are disrupting transportation, recreation, and even water quality along the river. Plaquemines Parish, a community south of New Orleans, has been warned that…

A man walks by the remains of part of the historic Rockaway boardwalk in New York City after large parts of it were washed away during Hurricane Sandy on October 31, 2012.Photo: Spencer Platt (Getty Images)Just before Halloween in 2012, Hurricane Sandy climbed up the East Coast and pummeled New York City and the Jersey shore. The storm’s destruction shut off power for millions, knocked out parts of the subway system, and inundated coastal communities with a 14-foot storm surge.“Sandy was definitely that first big wake up…

Cars are submerged at the entrance to a parking garage in New York’s Financial District in the aftermath of superstorm Sandy on Oct. 30, 2012.Photo: Richard Drew (AP)Ten years ago, Hurricane Sandy barreled through the Caribbean and then up the Eastern seaboard, bringing floods and storm surges that destroyed homes and critical infrastructure. It was one of the most destructive storms in U.S. history, costing the country more than $81 billion, according to NOAA. Sandy made landfall over New Jersey and New York on October…

Low-water restrictions on the barge loads make for cautious navigation through the Mississippi River as evidenced by this tow passing under the Mississippi River bridges in Vicksburg, Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2022.Photo: Rogelio V. Solis (Getty Images)The Mississippi River’s water levels are so low that it’s messing with barge traffic and recreational boat travel along the crucial waterway. These are the lowest water levels that the river has seen in about 10 years, brought on by drought across the Midwest this year and low…

Hurricane Ian knocked out big sections of the Sanibel Causeway, completely cutting off the barrier island from the mainland.Gif: Gizmodo / NOAAThe storm caused heavy damage to the 3-mile-long Sanibel Causeway, the only road connecting Sanibel Island to Florida’s mainland. Repairs on another, smaller bridgeconnecting Pine Island are already underway, according to a report from Politico. But so far, state Governor Ron DeSantis hasn’t announced any specific timeline for the Sanibel Causeway’s re-building.“I can’t tell ……

Passersby photographs damage caused by rising water on San Carlos Island near Fort Myers Beach on September 29, 2022 in San Carlos Island, Florida.Photo: Win McNamee (Getty Images)Hurricane Ian has moved on from lashing Florida and made landfall over South Carolina this afternoon.The category 1 storm touched land near the town of Georgetown and knocked out power for 100,000 people in South Carolina soon after, according to NBC News. As of this writing, more than 200,000 customers have lost power in South Carolina,…

Homes and infrastructure were torn apart by catastrophic winds and major storm surges swept through southwestern Florida on Wednesday as Ian made landfall centered just north of Fort Meyers. Potentially record-breaking rainfall also caused severe flooding elsewhere in the state. President Joe Biden has declared Florida under a state of “major disaster,” opening up federal funding to people affected by the storm in nine counties. More than 2.5 million customers across Florida are without electricity, as of writing. In…